June 2, 1978, Forty Years Ago: Shah Panel Denial

A Home Ministry spokesman described as “highly speculative” the reports circulated by news agencies that the government was planning to set up a special court to try Mrs Gandhi for various criminal offences for which she has been indicted by the Shah Commission.

Published: June 2, 2018 12:44:25 am

Shah Panel Denial

A Home Ministry spokesman described as “highly speculative” the reports circulated by news agencies that the government was planning to set up a special court to try Mrs Gandhi for various criminal offences for which she has been indicted by the Shah Commission. The spokesman, however, was not willing to say what action the government is going to take on the two interim reports of Justice J C Shah. Officials of the home ministry are processing the various cases relating to Mrs Gandhi and some of her aides. It looks as if it will take a few days more before the government is able to move the courts for prosecuting Mrs Gandhi.

Shahi Imam’s Cases

The two pending court cases against Delhi’s Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Syed Abdullah Bukhari, were withdrawn. One case related to a complaint of assault on a licensing inspector the Delhi Municipal Corporation by the imam during the demolition of jhuggis opposite the Jama Masjid on August 12, 1974. The other arose from a complaint of rioting and assault by the imam and his supporters on a sub-inspector of police who had gone to arrest an accused in the Jama Masjid area on September 22, 1974. Two metropolitan magistrates permitted the Delhi administration to withdraw the cases which were pending in their respective courts.

Hari Krisha, former MP, and son of the late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, joined the Congress (I), a party release said.

Focus On Bansi Lal

Such was the might of Bansi Lal during the Emergency that the vice-president and half a dozen members of the Union Cabinet together could not undo one illegal detention ordered by him. At least two ministers took the matter to Mrs Gandhi but she professed helplessness. This came out before the Shah Commission in the case of the illegal arrest and detention of Murli Dhar Dalmia under MISA.